There is a need for potable water in all areas of the world. In developed countries, water is purified and potable water is supplied on a large scale, typically by large national or multinational water management companies. This water is typically supplied directly to the consumers' homes in a potable form. However, in some parts of the world, for example in some rural areas of developing countries, many people either do not have a direct water supply to their homes and only have access to a non-potable communal water supply such as a village well, or it cannot be guaranteed that the water they do receive is potable. As a result, a considerable number of people die each year as the direct result of drinking contaminated water. Thus, there is a need for water purification kits and compositions that allow the consumer to purify their own water, which produces potable water in a fast and efficient manner.
Many water purification compositions available on the market to date consist of disinfectants that include chlorine or derivatives thereof. The amounts of such disinfectants needed to effectively purify water impacts the taste and odor of the resulting water. Flavorants can be added to change the taste and odor of the water. However, traditional flavorants used to change the taste and odor of the water significantly compromise the effectiveness of chlorine and chlorine derivatives disinfectants. Thus, there is a need to provide a water purification composition that disinfects contaminated water without imparting a taste or odor that consumers may find objectionable in the resulting potable water.
Another problem associated with the use of certain chlorine-based disinfectants, such as, for example, calcium hypochlorite, is that of product stability. In particular, it has been found that known compositions based on calcium hypochlorite can lose substantial disinfection efficacy when mixed with a flavorant. Thus, there is a need for disinfection compositions containing a flavorant having improved storage stability.
After disinfection of contaminated drinking water, a further problem includes maintaining residual disinfectant to protect the water from recontamination until such time as it is required for drinking, while at the same time providing drinking water of satisfactory taste. Thus, there is a need for compositions, methods and kits for purifying contaminated drinking water and for providing purified water having improved taste attributes for a period of time.